All episodes of the

Colourclass Namibia

Episode 1 – The Equipment

We take an Air Namibia flight from Frankfurt am Main, Germany, to Windhoek, Namibia. From there we drive to our first port of call for accommodation, the Sossus Dune Lodge in the Namib-Naukluft National Park. High time to get our equipment ready for action: The photos and videos in this Colourclass are taken using cameras and lenses from the Sony α-series. The tripods and panorama heads from Novoflex give our cameras the necessary stability for panoramic photography, astrophotography and time-lapse photography, for which we have the LRT PRO Timer from Gunther Wegner. We use the EIZO ColorEdge CS2740 monitor – meaning that ideal, colour-accurate production conditions onsite are guaranteed. Our insert filters are now even easier to handle since we are using the new M10 filter holder from Haida, and with Ricoh’s Theta Z1, we have a powerful panoramic camera at our fingertips.

Episode 2 – The Basics of Panoramic Photography

The Deadvlei is one of the most famous places in Namibia. Nearly everyone has seen images of the ancient desiccated trees before the red dune backdrop. An impressive display of nature, which can hardly be captured with a single photo. For this reason, photographer Alexander Heinrichs explains the basics of panoramic photography in this episode. We are able to change the perspective and take stunning photos of the Namib desert from a hot-air balloon.

Episode 3 – The Basics of Astrophotography

We charter a helicopter so we can take pictures of the unique sights of the Deadvlei from the air. Namibia is a country with very low light pollution, which provides ideal conditions for Alexander Heinrichs to explain the basics of astrophotography.

Episode 4 – The Basics of Time-lapse Photography

Our journey takes us to the Delight Hotel in Swakopmund. From here we drive south back into the Namib-Naukluft National Park. The Namib nuzzles up to the Atlantic Ocean here. We explore the dunes of the Namib desert, which are bright yellow here, on a safari in an all-terrain vehicle. We photograph countless seals, flamingos and pelicans at Pelican Point near Walvis Bay.

Time-lapse photography is the first stage when transitioning from still photography to shooting video. These video clips are composed of 25 individual frames per second. Our hunderteins filmmaker Stephan Klein explains how it works in this episode. To do so, we use the LRT PRO Timer and LRTimelapse, a software programme by Gunther Wegner.

The ‘Living Desert’ tour has shown us that even the sandy desert, which for all intents and purposes appears to be dead, is teeming with life.

Colourclass Namibia: Episode 4 – The Basics of Time-lapse Photography

Episode 5 – The Most Important Tips of Wildlife Photography

We continue into Damaraland and set up our base at Camp Kipwe. It is from here that we embark on our search for Namibia’s desert elephants. It’s one thing to take photos of animals in a zoo or even on a photo expedition, but it’s an entirely different experience photographing them in the wild while on a safari. In this episode Alexander Heinrichs explains how best to photograph wild animals on a game drive.

Episode 6 – Tips for a Photographic Safari

Our journey takes us further north to the Etosha Safari Lodge. From here, we head into the Etosha National Park where we can take pictures of its wild animals. We explore the gigantic national park, like everyone else does, in an open-air jeep. We can take pictures of rhinos, elephants, lions and zebras in the wilderness from the safety of our vehicle. Christian Ohlig from EIZO gives useful tips on how to get the best possible photos under these typical safari conditions.

Episode 7 – Auto-focus Tips for Fast-moving Animals

We drive south back to Okonjima, where we spend the night at the Okonjima Plains Camp. Okonjima is a 200-square kilometre nature reserve, especially for big cats, and it’s the headquarters of the AfriCat Foundation. Too tame for a life in the wild, several cheetahs live here in a spacious enclosure, in addition to numerous African big cats. The rangers regularly set up training tracks to exercise the mental and physical agility of these fast-moving big cats. It not only challenges the reaction times of the world’s fastest land creatures, it also puts the autofocus of our Sony cameras to the test. That’s why Alexander Heinrichs offers tips for the best autofocus settings for photographing fast-moving objects.

Episode 8 – Video Storytelling

We set out in search of the wild leopards of Okonjima, a nature reserve for big cats and other wildlife, in this episode. Our modern digital photography cameras give us easy access to very powerful video cameras. But capturing video is different from photography. That’s why our hunderteins filmmaker Stephan Klein shows us his approach to capturing video in the Colourclass. He also gives us important tips on what to watch out for when filming using our search for leopards as an example.

Episode 9 – Colour Settings: Camera, Software and Adjustment Targets

Unfortunately the Waterberg Plateau Lodge is already our last stop on our round trip of Namibia. We pay a visit to the nearby white rhinos and take an initial look at what the past two weeks have yielded. The weather is variable and we delve into the technical aspects of photography: EIZO colour management workflow expert Christian Ohlig explains which range should be set in the camera and how programs such as Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop handle colours and how to set them. Once back in Germany he uses the EIZO ColorEdge CS2740 monitor to explain why you need to create an adjustment target during the calibration that should correspond to the ambient conditions of the image processing workstation and how you can do it.

Episode 10 – Tips for Video Postproduction

Once back in Germany, hunderteins filmmaker Stephan Klein explains how he approaches the Colourclass postproduction and gives useful tips on data management with our G-SPEED Shuttle SSD from G-Technology. He pays special attention to the subject of music. We get our music from Epidemic Sound, a music database specialised for the needs of filmmakers and YouTubers.

Episode 11 – Softproofing Workflow for Printing With Photo Labs

Printing process, ink and, in particular, the printing material used has a great influence on the finished product. EIZO colour management workflow expert Christian Ohlig explains in the last episode of Colourclass Namibia how the finished image can be viewed on the monitor already using the softproofing mode of the image editing software. To do so he visits White Wall, a professional lab, and takes a close look at the production of Namibia pictures on different materials. He then demonstrates, using Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop as examples, on the EIZO ColorEdge CS2740 how the influence of the next production step can be simulated on the monitor and how the image can then be optimised for the special properties of the selected product.